Russian Nuclear Physicist Accused Of Revealing Classified Material

NIZHNY NOVGOROD, Russia -- A Russian nuclear physicist has been arrested on suspicion of revealing classified material during a scientific conference in Prague.

Vladimir Golubev's lawyer, Yevgeny Gubin, said on April 22 that his client had been arrested overnight in the city of Sarov, a nuclear research hub in the Nizhny Novgorod region that was home to a major Soviet nuclear weapons development facility.

Gubin said he plans to appeal his client's pretrial detention.

Investigators say that Golubev, 66, revealed secret material at an international conference in the Czech capital in 2013.

Golubev, a retired employee of the Federal Nuclear Center in Sarov, denies wrongdoing. He says the information in his report has been available in open sources such as science magazines and cannot be considered classified.

Investigators opened a case against Golubev last year and ordered him not to leave the regional capital, Nizhny Novgorod.

They urged prosecutors to arrest him this month, saying that he violated the order.